A risk assessment can save your employees' lives

Those workplace accidents you have nightmares about can happen easily, but only if you don't deal with the risks that cause them.

To deal with these risks, you must first find them. This is where your risk assessment comes in to your health and safety plan. Just like a game of high stakes hide-and-go-seek, you must now seek out the risks and deal with them.

This process will be the difference between protecting your employees and endangering them. So do it properly. Follow these five risk assessment steps...

Follow these five risk assessment steps to eliminate risks

Step #1: Plan ahead. Create a strategy and list of the jobs, tools, machines, areas and conditions you must inspect for risks.

Step #2: Give your health and safety representative a copy of this plan and arrange a time with him when you can do the assessment together.

Step #3: Create a risk register that you can use during the assessment. It must have fields for the date, risk type and level, the cause and any other factors that influence it.

Step #4: Observe your employees at work and follow the list you created to ensure you assess all the dangers.

Step #5: Fill in the risk register as you go, with all the information about any risks you identify. This will aid you in discussing and dealing with the risks later.

If you stick to these five steps, risks will never have to keep you up at night because you know your risk management plan has them covered.

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Your Health and Safety role is not exactly an easy one!

Right now, the headaches, stresses, time-drainers and financial costs of Health and Safety in your company seem endless. You're having to constantly stay on top of changes and updates being made to laws and regulations – and implementing these changes.

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